JAIPUR: Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat Saturday sued Chief Minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot for allegedly defamatory remarks against him and his late mother over a state co-op scam in which investors allegedly lost around Rs 900 crore. The Rajasthan Police have been investigating the Sanjivani cooperative scam since August 2019. The company is accused of luring investors with exorbitant returns and defrauding them.
The Rouse Avenue court in Delhi, where the defamation suit was filed, scheduled the matter for Monday. Speaking after filing, BJP leader Shekhawat he said the CM had indulged in “character assassination” by making such statements for the past three years in and out of the assembly, not even sparing his late mother. Gehlot “welcomed” the lawsuit, saying he would help the case “move forward” and insisting that Shekhawat and his family are charged in the investigation. “This case will go forward under this pretext (defamation lawsuit), it will be good for those people, whose money was lost. The matter will attract national attention,” he said. “About 2-2.5 lakh of investors’ money has been defrauded. Some people have lost Rs 1 crore, some Rs 50 lakh,” the CM said. He asked ‘where did the money go’, before wondering if he was ‘Ethiopia’. Shekhawat has plantations in Ethiopia.
The Rouse Avenue court in Delhi, where the defamation suit was filed, scheduled the matter for Monday. Speaking after filing, BJP leader Shekhawat he said the CM had indulged in “character assassination” by making such statements for the past three years in and out of the assembly, not even sparing his late mother. Gehlot “welcomed” the lawsuit, saying he would help the case “move forward” and insisting that Shekhawat and his family are charged in the investigation. “This case will go forward under this pretext (defamation lawsuit), it will be good for those people, whose money was lost. The matter will attract national attention,” he said. “About 2-2.5 lakh of investors’ money has been defrauded. Some people have lost Rs 1 crore, some Rs 50 lakh,” the CM said. He asked ‘where did the money go’, before wondering if he was ‘Ethiopia’. Shekhawat has plantations in Ethiopia.
